The TwentyThird Survivor
by Carynna
Summary: The survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 discover a strange girl in the jungle. Is she one of the the mysterious Others, or is she yet another of the victims of the doomed flight? Or is she both? Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

The Twenty-third Survivor

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from _Lost_. Except for Charlie. I do own him. He's mine, you hear?

Chapter 1: Dreams

The girl crashed through the jungle, her long hair covering her face. She looked back, wild, terrified eyes barely visible through the dense black curtain of hair, as if searching for something. Still running through the thick, lush foliage, her ankle struck a fallen tree branch with a sickening crack. The girl collapsed to the ground, landing in a pool of blood.

Kate sat up, sweating. "Strange dream," she muttered, yanking a black tank top over her head. "Maybe I should go talk to Locke about it." Kate looked to her left, where Sawyer was snoring softly. She smiled, leaning down to peck him on the cheek. "I'll come straight back, ok?" she murmured into his ear.

"Mmm hmm," he replied, eyes still shut. The sun had barely peeped over the horizon, and almost everyone was still asleep. Kate snatched up one of the energy bars that she had hoarded away, stalking across the camp to where Locke slept. He was already awake, gently stirring the fire in front of him with a long piece of driftwood. "Hello Kate," he said amiably. "Up so early, huh?"

"Yeah,' Kate replied. "I had a weird dream, and I thought, you know, maybe you could make some sense of it."

"I'm no fortune-teller, Kate, but I'll try," he answered, still fiddling with the stick.

"Well," Kate started, "There was this girl. Running." She hesitated for a moment.

"Go on," Locke prompted, peering into the bright orange flames.

"She was in the jungle, and she looked sort of scared of something. Tripped over a big log, sprained her ankle or something."

Locke looked vaguely interested. "Locke. Are you even listening to me?" Kate demanded.

"Yes, Kate, I am. What did the girl look like?"

"Mm…I didn't see her face, but she had black hair. Looked sort of like Sun from the back."

"When you said jungle, did you mean like this one? On the island?" Locke said.

"Well, yeah. You think that maybe she's here?"

"It's possible. You want to go look for her?"

Kate nodded. "Call me crazy, but the place where she fell, it looked familiar. About a half-mile that way—" she pointed, "there's a big tree trunk on the ground that looks exactly like the one that girl tripped over. You think there's actually a chance that there's really a person there?" Kate asked incredulously.

"Oh, yes, Kate. There's always a chance," he replied, finally standing up. "Let's go." He turned back to grab a bottle of water, the stick still in his hand. Kate shrugged.

* * *

"I still can't believe that you would actually do this," Kate said as the two trudged through the foliage. "I mean, if I'd asked Jack or Sawyer, they probably would have just laughed or said that I was under too much stress, or something."

"Jack's a man of science, Kate, and I'm a—"

'Man of faith. I know," Kate said, smiling. "We're almost there. The log's just over that way." She pointed.

"Well, let's go see if there's anybody there." Locke replied, walking faster.

Kate followed him as he tramped through the thick vegetation. She opened her mouth to speak, just as Locke stopped dead in his tracks. "What the hell!" Kate said, nearly tripping over him. "What was that for?"

"There's your girl," Locke said, pointing.

"What the—my God!" Kate gasped. Next to a mossy log was what looked like a pile of dirty rags half-concealed in the thick foliage. Locke walked towards the figure. He turned it over, revealing the face of an Asian girl who looked about thirteen. Her eyes were shut, and there was a bloody gash on her forehead. "You said she hurt her ankle?" Locke asked, gesturing at the girl's swollen foot, which was twisted at an odd angle. "Broken. It's pretty amazing how much a simple dream can tell you."

"Yeah," Kate agreed. "You think that she's one of, you know, _them?_"

"Could be," Locke replied, grabbing the girl's limp wrists. "We'll take her back to the beach."

"You sure you can carry the kid that far?"

"Yes," Locke grunted, hoisting the girl over his shoulders. "No problem. You run ahead and get Jack."

"Jack?"

"Jack."

Kate looked dubious for a moment, and then ran off into the jungle.

* * *

"Jack!" Kate yelled, her bare feet raising slight clouds of white sand. "You have to come, quick!"

"What?" Jack said, looking up from his book.

"First I had a weird dream, and we—me and Locke—found a girl in the jungle. She's got a broken ankle or something. It's a long story. Just—come on!" She grabbed his hand, yanking him up from the ground.

"Kate, wait! You said she's hurt? Then I've got to grab some supplies, something!" Jack cried. Kate ignored him.

(A/N: Yay for _Lost_! We loves it, and what would we do Wednesday night if we couldn't watch _Lost_ anyways? Oh yes…and review por favor!)


	2. A Matter of Time

Chapter 2:

Disclaimer: Unfortunately…I don't own any of the characters from Lost, except for my Asian girl, who currently has no name. (Wait…I still own Charlie)

Jack interrogated Kate as she pulled him through the jungle. "You said she had a broken ankle?"

"Yeah!" Kate shouted.

"Okay. About how old was she?" Jack panted, trying to ask questions and run at the same time.

"I don't know. A teenager—fourteen, fifteen, maybe?" Kate replied. "Oh, look. There's John," she said, stopping abruptly.

"You sure you know what you're doing, John?" Jack asked, staring uneasily at the other man's load.

"Mm," Locke grunted, as he shifted the position of the unconscious girl on his back.

"So, are we going to take her back to the hatch?" Kate asked.

"I think that would be a good idea," Jack said. "I don't have anything with me right now," he said, glaring pointedly at Kate, "but I can take a look at the ankle."

"It would be easier for you to examine her at the hatch," Locke said. "We're almost back to the camp, anyways."

As the three hurried back to the camp, they heard the distinct snapping of twigs ahead. Kate froze. "Do you think it's them?" she whispered. Locke put his finger to his lips, his eyes suddenly glinting with a fierce light.

A moment later, Hurley emerged from the dense foliage. "Dude, what the heck is going on here?" Hurley asked, gesturing towards Locke's burden. "You found some chick in the jungle?"

Jack sighed in relief, shrugged, and then nodded. "Yeah," he responded. "Listen, Hurley, can you go get Sun? Tell her to meet us at the hatch."

Hurley nodded and headed back towards the camp.

"Wait!' Locke said. "Get Libby, too."

Hurley suddenly looked more enthusiastic. "Okay," he said over his shoulder.

_In the Hatch_

"Okay, let's just set her down on the bed," Kate said, as she filled a glass with water.

"All right, we're going to have to elevate her ankle," Jack said, digging through his bag of medical supplies. Locke found a cardboard box in the kitchen and propped the girl's foot upon it. She seemed to have regained a bit of consciousness by now. Her lips moved slightly, but all that came out was inane babble. Kate tilted her head over the girl's mouth. "I don't think that's even English," she commented.

Sun climbed into the hatch. "Hello," she said, "Hurley told me to come here. What is going on?"

"Hey Sun," Kate said, "we found this girl in the jungle, and—" She was cut off by Hurley and Libby clambering into the Hatch.

"Looks like we've got a little heal-the-mysterious-chick party going on here," Hurley said.

Jack put his hand against the girl's forehead. "Burning," he remarked. "Could someone go and get a wet cloth or something like that?"

"Sure," Libby said, hurrying off into the bathroom.

Jack rinsed off the dirt and dried blood off the girl's ankle as well as he could, then dabbed some strong-smelling ointment onto a bandage. He waited until Libby came back and put the cool cloth on the girl's forehead. "You said you went to med school, right?" Jack asked

"Yeah," Libby replied.

"You know how to set broken bones?"

She nodded, and the two of them yanked the bone back into place. Sun and Hurley winced at the sound. (A/N: I don't really know how to do any of this medical stuff. I'm just making this up as I go.) The girl screamed, her voice cracking. She began to shout hoarsely in another language. "Bu yao! Ma ma, zhe ge chun zi shi zai tai cou le! Wo bu yao chuan ma!" (translation: No! Mom, this dress is so ugly! I'm not going to wear it!)

"Weird," Hurley commented. "Hey Sun! You're Asian! You understand what she's saying, right?"

Sun sighed. "No. I'm Korean. The girl is speaking Chinese."

"But aren't they—"

"No!" Sun said, cutting him off. "They are not the same."

"Okay, okay," Hurley said, "I get it. Sorry."

"Hey, guys," Jack said, "can we get back to helping her?"

"Sorry!" Hurley and Sun chorused.

The rest of the survivors watched silently as Jack and Libby wrapped the injured ankle in the bandage that Jack had previously prepared. "Okay," Kate said. "What do we do now?'

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, frowning.

"I mean, what are we going to do with _her_?"

"We're going to let her heal," Jack replied.

"Ever consider the possibility that she's one of them?" Kate retorted, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"She's just a kid, Kate," Libby said, cutting into the conversation.

"Yeah, but they took Walt, too. Who's to say that they didn't just send her as a spy? Like Ethan, except because she's only a teenager, we'd think that she was innocent?"

Locke, who had been quietly watching the starting-to-get-heated conversation from the doorway, suddenly broke in. "It's okay, Kate," he said. "You might be right, but in that condition, she's not going anywhere for a few weeks. If it makes you feel any better, we can tie up her wrists."

Kate shrugged. "But what will we do when she does get better?"

"There will still be a long time to decide. We will have to wait and see," Sun said quietly.

"Okay," Hurley said, "But if she turns out to be a psycho ax killer. I dunno what we're gonna do."

The girl opened her eyes.


End file.
